Blog

New item by christine Amber / Google Photos

ok thx Audra Soltis. First when we say negative reinforcement, in school circles and animal behavior studies, “negative” is anything other than sex, food, or in born needs such as bonding to a mother/mare, generally. Everything else in science, school, etc are called negative reinforcers. Our leg to say move forward, a softening of the rein in the mouth as a cue, clicking with our tongues, probably most voice sounds. So, in the science world, negative reinforcement doesn’t mean BAD, MEAN, HURTFUL it is just something that generally the horse could and would live fine without. Pain compliance is a type of negative reinforcement, if the horse seeks not to be hurt by a bit in it’s mouth, a rope over it’s nose, a sharp spur in the side. Regular negative reinforcement means you take away MILD pressure, like soft reins, a leg on the side, the click to go forward. Not all equiptment hurts the horse, they may have no use for it, but it doesn’t necessairly hurt them WHEN USED CORRECTLY and HUMANELY. An old practice of forcing a horse to be still was to grab them by the ear and twist like hell and hold the ear until the person was finished doing whatever they happened to want the horse to submit to. That is called earing or being eared. Horses who have been eared are very reactive to having their ears approached, touched, having a bridle touch the ear, having a rope rub past the ear. Their reaction can be a very violent swing of the head to avoid possible pain. Or, they may decide to actively bite at your hand when it approaches their ear. Good news, they can be retrained to accept handling of their ears. Mules and donkeys are much harder to retrain. So, when my hand goes near SteelyDan’s face in an upward direction toward his ear, even if it is just an accident, he flattens his ears against his neck, bares his teeth, and maybe will even mock bite at me. He isn’t serious about hurting me, he is warning me. If he was serious, horses, especially stallions, are soooooooooo fast with their face and their teeth you won’t see it coming. Also, when a rope, or halter or reins are pulled over or off of his head, he avoids and throws his head up. He is soooooo good. Why? Because he gives up right away when I gently stay where I am, being ready just in case to bash him away, he slowly accepts my movements, rope, halter, hands near his ears. He even enjoys having his ears scratched once he allows me to touch. So, I’ll say more about the other issue later. Hence, I think he was drugged, as he was a teeny bit resistant when we saw him, and did accomodate easily, but he was not behaving as aggressively or as quickly or as determinedly as he is now. I’m so happy to make a change in the horses’ life.